


The Tradition of Happiness

by childoflightning



Category: Cartoon Therapy (Web Series), Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Angst, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders is Bad at Feelings, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders is a Mess, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders is the Dragon Witch, Anxious Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Asexual Morality | Patton Sanders, Autistic Coded Dragons, Autistic Coded Virgil, Autistic Logic | Logan Sanders, Chronically Ill Patton, Coming of Age, Cursed Roman, Deceit Sanders Acts Like a Snake, Dragon Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Falling In Love, Fluff, Getting Together, Good Deceit Sanders, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Insecurity, Modern fantasy setting, Multi, Nonbinary Deceit Sanders, Nonbinary Logic | Logan Sanders, Other, Snake Deceit Sanders, Sympathetic Deceit Sanders, Tattoo shops, Traditions, Weddings, Winged Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Witch Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Witch Logic | Logan Sanders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:55:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21854089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/childoflightning/pseuds/childoflightning
Summary: modern fantasy au ft. DLAMP with Virgil as The Dragon Witch (in a way)-Virgil wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting his Ad Aetatem to be, but it certainly didn't involve falling in love with four Beyonders.-Or: Virgil leaves his dragon clan for his coming of age journey. Along the way he falls in love, and decides he doesn't want to return. Years later, and he's getting married to the four loves of his life, but he still doesn't know if leaving his clan was the right choice. Can he figure it out?
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Deceit Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil/Creativity | Roman/Logic | Logan/Morality | Patton/Deceit Sanders, DLAMP, Dr. Emile Picani & Sleep | Remy Sanders, Dr. Emile Picani/Sleep | Remy Sanders, QPR- Queer Platonic Relationship
Comments: 25
Kudos: 207
Collections: Sanders Sides Secret Santa 2019





	The Tradition of Happiness

**Author's Note:**

> Gift for: [lampd-intheface](https://lampd-intheface.tumblr.com/)
> 
>  **TW: Referenced Past Suicide Attempt, Past Near-Death Experience, Past Mistreatment of a Minor, Throwing Up (mentioned)**  
>  In Depth TW In End Notes

Virgil was terrified. Excited, but terrified.

His hands shook gently as he looked in the mirror, taking in his appearance. They’d mixed and matched pieces for today. The jacket was more of a flowing coat, more traditional of his dragon heritage. It was a deep purple, emphasizing Virgil’s eyes and scales. The vest was black and decidedly human and the slacks were something that were neither, magic seeming to be almost interlaced within the threads, thrumming with energy.

Or maybe it was just Virgil thrumming with energy.

It was definitely not the attire Virgil was expecting to wear to his wedding, but then again he hadn’t been expecting to fall in love with four Beyonders as well.

Even the thought of his future spouses brought a smile to Virgil’s face. He fondly remembered when they first met.

* * *

This was it. Anxiety took a deep breath and tried to slow his racing heart.

While it was exciting to finally go on his Ad Aetatem, it was also quite foreboding. There was so much that could go wrong and he would be so far away from his clan. Sure, he could contact them but he was going to be physically completely alone. For a year.

“I’m not sure I want to go,” he said quietly, wings tucked in tightly against his back.

“Anxiety, sweetheart, it’s all been set up,” him mother’s crooning voice came, “Just the other day you were saying how excited you were to see The Beyond.”

Anxiety _had_ done that. _Why_ had he done that?

But he knew why. He was terrified and that couldn’t be more true. But he was also excited- elated actually. This was the journey of a lifetime. The literal journey of his adulthood. He would finally get the chance to see the world, how could he _not_ be ecstatic?

It was just now that the time to actually leave was approaching, most of that elation was giving way to fear.

“I know, and I am excited, But I’m also-”

“Anxious,” chipped in one of the elders.

Virgil huffed and shifting his wings, letting them relax from the tight position he had held them in. His tail swept against the floor.

“Yeah. That,” he admitted.

“It was a fitting name,” another commented.

“Oh shush Jazeal, the boy’s worried, don’t tease him,” a new voice added.

“I wasn’t teasing, it’s his name, and it’s a damn good one. A name that fits is a good name, the connection-.”

“Virgil,” he said suddenly, shocking even himself. Sure, he had been thinking about it for months now but he hadn't realized that he had made a choice.

The entire clan turned their eyes towards him. He swallowed, but stood firm.

“Yeah, it’s Virgil,” he said. His body quivered, wings flexing in and out ever so slightly. But he had made his choice.

“Anxiety,” his mother said, “This is- is that the name you want to claim?”

“Yes,” Virgil insisted, “Anxiety fit me. It always will. But you’re right, my Ad Aetatem is here. I’m an adult. A name that fits is a good name. I Claim Virgil.”

“And so it be,” his mother said, “Virgil ‘Anxiety’ clan Shadowlight, the start of your Ad Aetatem begins.”

Oh right, Virgil had almost forgotten about that part. This was the part where he was supposed to leave now, wasn’t it? This was it. This was the beginning of being an adult. When he came back in a year he’d no longer be considered a fledgling.

Was he shaking? He was pretty sure he was shaking.

“Go now my son,” his mother's voice, sweet and caring, “I will see you in a year.”

Virgil nodded, pushing back tears. Suddenly filled with emotion, he slammed into her for one last hug.

“I’ll miss you,” he said.

She sighed and curled her wings around her just like she did as a child. It had always made him feel safe in protected. Somehow in his mother’s arms, surrounded by her wings, Virgil had always felt safe from the worries that plagued his mind.

“I’ll miss you too my love. But you are allowed to come back if you need to. There’s no shame. You also have a phone. I expect calls.”

“Of course,” he chuckled.

“Now go on, the train will arrive soon.”

Virgil nodded, and started the short mile to the train station. It wasn’t a long walk and Virgil struggled to decide if it helped or increased his anxiety.

Either way, he arrived at the train for the start of his journey.

It was a pretty boring beginning if he was being honest. The train was fast but it would still take two to three hours which Virgil was not really looking forward to.

He sighed, pulled out his book, leaned against the window, and promptly fell asleep.

Getting off the train was a whole different experience. It was loud. Very, very, loud. There was easily double the amount of people at this station than there was in his entire clan.

If he could, Virgil would have taken a step back, but with the amount of people pressing around him it was impossible. So he struggled through the crowd, pushing to where the signs said to go. He kept his head down, but the stares following him and his obvious dragon appearance where clear as day.

Virgil’s anxiety spiked and he focused on his breathing. In. Hold. Out.

He just needed to get to the car.

The car was surprisingly easy to find but Virgil couldn’t help but feel like the whole ordeal lasted way too long. He quickly slid inside the Uber and took a deep breath.

“Hello,” Virgil offered meekly.

The driver gave him a hello in return, checked where they were going, and then left. Virgil couldn’t have been more relieved. He didn’t think he liked the train station.

Soon enough Virgil had calmed down a bit, the noisy station fading away.

The Uber driver was friendly, giving Virgil all sort of encouraging tips he thought Virgil could use. The tips really ranged in helpfulness.

“We do, we do have weather,” Virgil chimed up at one moment when the driver seemed to be trying to literally explain how rain worked.

“You do? I thought dragons lived in a bubble?”

Virgil chuckled.

“Metaphorically,” he explained, “It’s- we keep to ourselves. Besides our Ad Aetatems, we don’t really ever leave. Hence living in a ‘bubble.’”

“Oh.” Virgil could see the driver blush in the mirror, “Uh, how many things I have said that you definitely knew about?”

“I didn’t know about malls?” Virgil offered.

“Oh, okay, glad to know I haven’t been totally redundant here.”

“No, no you haven't,” Virgil insisted, “Uh, can I, can I actually ask a question?”

“Shoot.”

“Is- I know- Do witches really tend to gather together?”

“Sorta,” the driver offered, “More of a book club sort of ‘gather together’ than a culture like you dragons.”

“Can you- can you join one of these book clubs?”

“Well sure, as long as you’re a witch,” the driver hesitated, then peered back at Virgil through the mirror, as if checking that the boy did still have wings, “It’s- are you?”

“Yeah. I’m a witch.”

“I didn’t know dragons could be Learned witches.”

“Of course we can, anyone can,” Virgil said.

“Oh no, I wasn’t trying to suggest that you couldn’t. I’ve just- well the dragons have always seemed so secluded I would’ve thought it would be almost impossible to learn enough to become a Learned witch.”

“Oh it is,” Virgil said, “But I’m a Blood witch, not a Learned witch.”

“You are?”

“Interspecies beings are a lot more common than they were 100 years ago.”

The driver blushed again.

“I’m sorry, I’m being way too noisy and invasive and-”

“It’s fine,” Virgil said, “I don't mind. Dragon culture’s a lot of call it like you see it. It doesn’t bother me, as long as you’re not an asshole. Plus, it’s not like there’s a lot of dragons in The Beyond, much less dragon witches. I’m not surprised you hadn’t thought of it.”

“I’ve never even met a dragon before,” the driver admitted.

Virgil tried not to audibly snort. That had been obvious. He would usually say as much, but the driver seemed so nervous that Virgil stopped himself.

The rest of the ride was shared in comfortable conversation, with questions and answers on both sides. The increase of knowledge of The Beyond helped Virgil feel more at ease. Though this couldn’t really be called The Beyond now, could it? It wasn’t Beyond at all. It was Here.

It was when Virgil was dropped off, he finally asked.

“Hey, what’s this place called anyways?”

“A city?”

“No like, the name of the city.”

“Brokfield.”

Brokfield. Surprisingly flat, uninteresting, mundane, _normal_. ‘The Beyond’ felt a lot more mysterious. But Virgil guessed that made sense.

“Brokfield,” he said, getting a feel for the world, “Okay.” He turned back to the driver, “Thanks,” he said.

“My pleasure, it’s not every day you get to meet a dragon,” he blushed, “I mean-”

“Call it like you see it,” Virgil reminded him.

“RIght. Yeah. Anyways good luck.”

And then he was gone, leaving Virgil in front of his new apartment building.

Brokfield, huh?

-

Virgil had a full two days to himself before starting work. He spent the entire first day unpacking and building his nest. The second day he walked around town, trying to get a feel for the place. It wasn’t a large city by any means, more of the suburbs, but it was still much much larger than anything Virgil had been used to. And it was strange to see beings that weren’t dragons. It was even stranger to not see dragons at all.

But he didn’t explore much. Almost everything around him had been overwhelming and he hadn’t wanted to stay out for long. He located a few stores that he’d need and left it at that for now. He could explore later.

The third day, he made his way to the tattoo shop he’d be working at. He’d finished his apprenticeship early that year at home, and just earned his license. The main part of setting up his Ad Aetatem had been finding a place that would employee him. But over time he found a nice studio that liked his work and now here he was.

Literally. The door stood in front of him and Virgil opened it with a swing. He entered carefully, looking around the place.

“Hello, you must be Anxiety?” a person asked, greeting Virgil as he came through the door.

“Yes- but it’s uh, its Virgil now,” he mumbled.

“Of course! Yes, my child mentioned that dragons claim a new name when they come of age,” he said with a grin. Virgil gave a slight nod, as the friendly man seemed to expect some sort of acknowledgement.

“But yes, welcome. I’m Emile Picani. Do you how do?”

Virgil’s eyes scrunched together and he frowned, mulling over the unfamiliar sentence.

“How are you?” Emile rephrased.

“Okay I guess,” Virgil offered. He paused then, “Do all Beyonders say that?”

Emile laughed and shook his head.

“No, just me,” he admitted.

“Oh,” Virgil said, and then fell quiet.

He looked around the place. It was minimalistic which he could appreciate. The shop was well lit, which Virgil also appreciated considering he would be tattooing people here. He needed to see what he was doing after all. The lights also weren’t the flickering fluorescent ones that Virgil was finding common here. He hated the ones at the grocery store with their glare and buzz.

“So, you wanna see the place?” Emile offered.

Virgil perked up and nodded eagerly. Emile gave a wide smile, the corner of his eyes curling into wrinkles and waved Virgil further in. Virgil took another breathe, and stepped forward, ready for everything yet to come.

-

Virgil fell into place easily and quickly grew to like Emile. Apparently Virgil reminded Emile heavily of his own child. He also got to know Remy, Emile’s queer platonic partner, the longer he stayed. It was a good atmosphere, and Virgil enjoyed being a tattoo artist, but by one month in, Virgil still hadn’t done much of anything besides work.

“Have you been _anywhere_ in town?” Remy asked.

“Why are you here?” Virgil dodged.

“Me and Emile have Not-Date night. Answer my question.”

“Course I’ve been into town,” Virgil huffed, “Gotta get groceries from somewhere.”

Remy rolled their eyes and jumped up onto the front desk, startling the person working there.

“Anywhere _besides_ the grocery store?”

“Emile, your partner is distracting me while I’m trying to work,” Virgil complained.

“Remy stop bothering my employees,” Emile chided. Virgil grinned victoriously. “But,” Emile continued, “Virgil, really, maybe you should think of exploring town. I mean isn’t the whole point of you going on your Ad, Ad…”

“Ad Aetatem.”

Emile gave him a nod of acknowledgement.

“Right. Isn't the whole point to get to see the world?”

Virgil scowled, “I’ve seen plenty.”

Sure, maybe he hadn’t explored the town much yet. But he had a year, right? It was just that it was really new. Plus, it was so big. Virgil would be too ashamed to ever admit it, but Brokfield was intimidating. Even if it wasn’t a bustling metropolitan area, it was bigger than anywhere Virgil had even been to, not to mention much noisier. Virgil didn’t know where to start exploring town, so he hadn’t at all.

A month later and he’d still only been a handful of places.

“Well then do you want to go back?” Emile asked.

“What! No,” Virgil protested “I just, I guess I wouldn’t even know where to start, y'know?” he admitted. He didn’t mention that everything about the city still slightly terrified him.

“Well the good news,” Remy chimed back in, “Is that I have a solution. I’ve recruited you your own personal tour guide. They should be here any minute.”

Emile looked at Remy in surprise, who in return just gave their partner a wink.

“I don’t need a tour guide,” Virgil protested. Sure, he hadn’t explored the town at all yet, but he wasn’t a _child_. He didn’t need to be babysat or led around town like a fledgling. The whole point of this trip was literally to celebrate and emphasize his journey into adulthood.

“Trust me,” Remy said, “I have a good feeling about this.”

As if perfectly on cue, the door pushed open to reveal a dark elf. Emile’s face instantly brightened and he went racing to the door.

“Logan,” he greeted, “I didn’t know you were stopping by!”

So this was Logan then. Virgil had heard a lot about Emile and Remy’s child, but had yet to actually meet them.

“Ren told me it was supposed to be a surprise which I find quite absurd considering we already see each other every week and my presence therefore can’t be that much of any real ‘surprise,’” Logan said in greeting.

Their hands seemed to be playing with something, and with a flash of recognition Virgil realized they were doing magic. Light manipulation it looked like, though Virgil had never seen someone have that much fluid control over it. Logan’s fingers twirled in the golden light, passing it over and threw his fingers and back-and-forth between his hands. It was beautiful.

Virgil could only admire the casual display of magic. While Virgil had magic himself, he was mostly self-taught and really had little practice from living in a dragon clan that had no other witches. The only magic Virgil had ever seen was his own, but now living in The Beyond, Virgil was awed to find magic casual and common place.

Logan’s simple display of light manipulation was certainly more skilled than most magic Virgil had seen, but it certainly wasn’t uncommon, which was still something Virgil was getting used to.

“Well I’m very glad to see you Lo,” Emile said, “Can I give you a hug?”

“I am very pleased to see you as well. And no to the hug, maybe later.”

Emile just nodded and stepped back.

“Hey kid,” Remy greeted now that their partner had finished.

“Ren. Still bothering Dad at work I see,” Logan drawled meeting their ren’s eyes with a smirk.

“‘Bothering’ is such a loaded word,” Remy responded as they leaned forward, “I prefer ‘interacting’ or ‘stopping by’ or-”

“I chose the word for a reason. The reason was that it fit.”

“Brat.”

Logan jumped up once at that, beforing rocking from their heel to their toes, a smile on their face. Their hands continued to play with the golden light.

“So Lo, this Virgil. He’s who I was telling you about,” Remy said, gesturing Virgil towards them. Virgil hesitantly walked over to the family.

Logan turned to face him.

“Hello Virgil. I’m Logan. I’ve been told by my ren that I am to be your apparent ‘tour guide’ because, and I quote, ‘Virgil’s been living here for a month already and I don’t think he’s even left his apartment to get food. He has no life, we have to help him.’”

Remy spluttered at the last bit.

“Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence,” Virgil told them.

“Hey, to be fair, you did admit you had only left your apartment to come to work or go to the grocery store,” Remy defended.

Virgil couldn’t argue that. He had been a few more places, but he didn’t think they would be nearly enough to satisfy Remy’s worries. Not to mention they had also all been out of necessity.

“Remy,” Emile sighed, “Just because Virgil hasn’t left his apartment much- which yes is probably a bit unhealthy- doesn’t mean you can just force him to be shown around town by Logan. Virgil, you don’t have to go, I know a lot of this still has to be very new to you. You can take your time. And Logan, just because your ren asked doesn’t mean you have to do it, okay?”

“I know,” Logan replied immediately, “but Virgil is a dragon. I imagine he’d be a good conversationalist.”

Virgil let out a laugh at that.

Logan frowned in response.

“What’s so funny?”

“Oh it’s just, that's like everyone thinks it’s really cool to meet the dragon right? Until we start talking. Dragons are very blunt, most people aren’t used to. I thought it was funny that that was what you were looking forward to. Hate to disappoint, but most people don’t like talking to dragons.”

Virgil had found that out quicker than he had liked. Sure, he had heard from clanmates that had completed their Ad Aetatems that Beyonders could be uncomfortable or even rude in response to how dragons talked. But it was different hearing about it versus being told in person that ‘no one will like you if you talk like that. You can’t just be mean to people.’

The words still stung, coming from a ‘well-meaning’ women- as she considered herself- while he was grocery shopping. Virgil hadn’t even quite known what he had said to make her respond in that way, or what Virgil had said that was so mean. It certainly wasn’t intentional.

“Oh no, I’m quite aware that dragons are blunt,” Logan said, “That was what I was looking forward to. Way less hidden messages in your words. You say what you mean, I like that.”

Sure Logan said that, but who knows if that would actually last.

“Okay. Don’t know how much I believe that, but whatever. Just don’t get mad if I hurt your feelings.”

“Oh, I probably will get mad if you hurt my feelings,” Logan insisted. They rocked forward on their heels as they met Virgil’s eyes for the first time, “And, to be clear, just because you may be blunt, doesn’t mean you can be mean. You may say things that offend me unintentionally. I am likely to do the same. But I’ll let you know if such issues arise and then we can discuss why and how that happened and how we can change the situation so it is unlikely to happen again.”

Virgil had never heard a non-dragon sound so dragon-like before. They seemed to understand the difference between speaking plainly and having rude intentions, which was something other Beyonders couldn’t grasp. Virgil had to assume they were taught that the two things were the same, even though they were very obviously different to him. Logan seemed to get that though. His respect- and interest- in Logan grew.

“Fair,” Virgil said.

Logan nodded in agreement.

“So you do want to go?” Emile asked, hope clear in his tone.

“I thought you just said you didn’t want me pressured into this,” Virgil grumbled back.

“I don’t,” Emile agreed, “I only want you to go if you want to. But I really want you to want to.”

Emile’s eyes were hopeful and excited and Virgil realized that there wasn’t a way that he could say no. He wasn’t sure he wanted to say no anyways. If he thought about it, he was maybe even looking for a reason to say yes. But before Remy had dragged Logan into this mess, Virgil just hadn't found that reason.

“And if you could, y'know, make up your mind sooner rather that would be much appreciated,” Remy insisted.

“Oh right. You and Dad have Not-Date night tonight,” Logan observed.

“You still remember our routine?” Remy asked fondly, turning their attention back towards their child.

“Of course.”

“Aww kiddo,” Remy crooned.

“You seem to be getting sentimental. Would you like to touch me?” Logan offered.

“Yes please.”

Logan hummed and stepped closer to his Ren.

“Hair only,” he requested. Remy nodded and they gently stroked Logan’s hair. After a minute they sort of cupped Logan’s head. Logan leaned into a moment and hummed. They finally dropped the light they had been manipulating and moved to cup their hands repeatedly together. They continued to squeeze their hands together even as they stepped away from their ren’s embrace a moment later.

“Virgil, would you like to join me?”

Virgil pondered the question for a minute. He knew he probably should explore what was to be his home for the next year, but it was a daunting task. The Beyond was just so big, and different, and new. But here was a person who at least understood dragons a little bit. Logan- unlike almost everyone else Virgil had thus to meet in The Beyond- seemed to only want Virgil to be who he was. Virgil could work with that.

“Sure. Why not. It’s not like I’m doing anything else,” Virgil agreed, hoping for casual even as a bit of anxiety built within him.

“Okay,” Logan said with a firm nod, “then let’s take our leave?”

Virgil nodded and turned to grab his coat.

“Yes!” Remy cheered, “You’re finally going to stop moping in your apartment.”

“I wasn’t moping,” Virgil grumbled, as he joined Logan by the door.

“Mhmm sure hon.”

“Goodbye, Ren, Dad,” Logan said as they opened the door of the shop. Virgil stood close behind them.

“Bye Lolo,” Emile called after me, “Remember we have dinner on Friday.”

“I remember,” they confirmed, “I love you both.”

Emile and Remy replied with their own phrases of love and then Logan and Virgil ducked outside.

The wind outside was bitter and cold and Virgil automatically moved his wings to better shelter him and Logan. Logan looked up in surprise and Virgil blushed.

“Well that’s certainly useful,” Logan claimed as they started walking down the street.

Virgil didn’t reply, but he also didn’t lower his wings, and continued to follow in Logan’s path.

“So, where are we going?” Virgil asked.

“I thought coffee,” Logan replied, “Start very simple.”

Virgil shrugged and didn’t argue.

Luckily, the coffee shop was nearby which Virgil was grateful for considering it was cold out. His wings did only so much to block the wind, and even then, they gained the feel of the biting wind instead of Virgil’s body. Even in just the few minutes of being outside, Virgil could already feel himself growing sluggish, body wanting to drop into torpor earlier than usual. His body wanted to drop temperature and slow his metabolism and it wanted to do it soon.

Which made the warmth of the coffee shop incredibly pleasant.

He stumbled in after Logan, blinking his eyes opened as he tried to gather his bearings. Virgil still felt out of it as they ordered and the next thing he knew, Logan and him were sitting at a table.

“Virgil, are you alright?”

“Hmm,” Virgil muttered, brain fog slowly clearing as his body continued to warm up, “Uh, yeah, just give me a minute. I forgot how cold it gets.”

He’d probably need to get some warmer clothes. And figure out the bus schedule.

“Oh right, you’re an ectotherm.”

“Mhmm,” Virgil agreed. He shook himself once and blinked rapidly as the world seemed to start to refocus around him.

A moment later and he heard his name called. He stood quickly, ignoring at how his head spun and Logan’s concerned noises and walked towards the counter. He made it about three feet before running straight into someone else.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going!” a guy said as he tried to catch his balance.

“Sorry!” Virgil quickly apologized, “I- I didn’t mean to run into you.”

The guy scowled and Logan was at his side in an instant, ready in case any issues occurred, but the guy’s anger was already melting away to awe.

“Holy shit!” he said, “You’re a dragon.”

“Yeah, no shit,” Virgil bit out, “The wings give it away? The tail?”

“Uh- the scales actually,” the new person said, actually answering Virgil’s rhetorical question.

Virgil scowled and tried to move past him, but the larger body moved to intercept him.

“Hey, no, I’m sorry I- I’ve just never met a dragon before.”

“Well I _have_ met dumbasses before so excuse me if I’m not very interested in this conversation,” Virgil said. Logan stood awkwardly at his side, shifting as if wondering what to do.

“Hey! _You_ ran into _me_!”

“And _you’re_ the one staring.”

“Oh, sorry,” the guy offered, seemingly genuine, and then attempted to look at anything but Virgil.

Virgil rolled his eyes and pushed past the guy to get his coffee. Logan trailed after him. The guy ended up following them to the counter as well. Virgil was about to yell at him again when he picked up his own coffee.

“So,” the new guy said, “What are you doing in town?”

“Is this the start of a very poor attempt to get my number?” Virgil asked dryly. He took a sip of his coffee and tried not to spit it out when it was way too hot.

“What! No!” the guy protested, “I was just curious.”

“I don’t even know your name,” Virgil pointed out as he studied the guy.

“Oh! Oh! I’m Roman.”

Virgil stared at the guy for a bit, evaluating him. He didn’t seem to actually have any ill intentions, just a bit too much charisma for Virgil’s liking.

“Virgil,” he said in return, “and this is-”

“Logan. Hello.”

“Hi,” Roman greeted in turn, “Now can I ask what your doing in town? I mean it isn’t actually a small town but it’s also big enough that I would’ve known if a dragon was living here.”

Virgil frowned, then shrugged, seeing no real issue in sharing.

“I’m on my Ad Aetatem.”

“You’re… what?” Roman asked.

“Pretty much my coming of age journey,” Virgil clarified. He’d become increasingly used to the question over the past month. Dragons were rare outside of their clans, and everyone wanted to know why one was in Brokfield. Which was fine by Virgil, he didn’t mind sharing as long as they were respectful in turn.

“Oh! Oh right!” Roman said, face brightening, “Right. I think I remember this from school. You like, live in the real world for a year or whatever and then go back to your clan and then you’re officially an adult?”

“Where we live is still the ‘real world’ and the process is much more ancient and in depth than that. But to put it simply, yes, that’s a good definition.”

Roman’s summary was basic, but Virgil also recognized this probably wasn’t the time for a long winded explanation of dragon traditions. Plus, tradition was personal and Virgil didn’t know Roman. Giving a brief explanation of what he was doing in The Beyond didn’t bother him, but Virgil wasn’t quite comfortable sharing the long traditions of the clans to a complete stranger.

“That’s so cool! How long have you been living here now?”

“About a month. I haven't really been explored town yet, so Logan was showing me around,” Virgil explained, nodding his head in his companion’s direction.

“And you took him to a coffee shop?” Roman asked, turning an incredulous gaze to Logan.

“Yes,” they agreed, “I thought it would be a good, calm environment that was still at least somewhat familiar, giving Virgil a slow but steady introduction to the world outside of his clan, allowing-”

“This guy has never been outside his clan and you took him to get coffee?” Roman asked, voice oozing with exasperation, “Come on, this is the only time you’ll be able to experience the world. You should be going on an adventure! There’s so much to see.”

The idea of that was more than a bit overwhelming. How could Virgil even begin to think about an adventure when he’d barely seen the inside of a coffee shop?

“Kinda hard to go on an adventure when I have work,” Virgil said dryly.

Roman rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“It doesn’t have to be a long adventure, just better than a freaking coffee shop, come on. Just- here, come with me, I’ll be like your tour guide or something, show you around.”

“Uh, Logan’s already fulfilled the category of tour guide, sorry,” Virgil said ignoring the way his heart sped up a bit in fear at the idea of some crazy impromptu trip.

“Yeah and they brought you to a coffee shop. Which is like, hella lame.”

Logan huffed and Virgil heard the audible clench of their jaw. They lifted a hand and rubbed at their face and then their neck before repeating the process.

“It’s a low stress environment that Virgil would of most likely already have been exposed to while still being a new and different experience because the environment around Virgil has changed. Adventures as you’re suggesting can be a completely new experience and be highly stressful for someone who is not used to the culture of a new area. I was trying to be considerate of the fact that Virgil is likely to experience culture shock and be very overwhelmed by his new environment and therefore find a suitable place to start, that is a step out of his comfort zone while still not being totally overwhelming like a supposed ‘adventure’ would be,” Logan snapped back. Their hand dropped from their face and then both hands gripped one another in front of them and they twisted and pulled at their fingers.

Virgil- who had literally only met Logan a half hour before- grew more and more appreciative of them. They had barely met and Logan had already thought and considered how overwhelming all of this had to be for Virgil, and how to deal with it. Logan easily identified many of Virgil’s own anxieties and had planned around them to give Virgil the best experience possible, even after barely meeting. It was touching.

“Oh, I uh, hadn’t thought about that,” Roman said, “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Virgil said, “But uh, Logan’s right. This is all, uh really really new to me, y’know?”

“I forgive you as well,” Logan said curtly, “Just please think before you speak next time.”

“Fair enough,” Roman said with a laugh, “But uh, even still I’m always down for an adventure- even if it is a more laid back casual one- if you’ll have me?”

“We literally just met,” Virgil drawled.

Roman just shrugged and gave a wide grin.

“What do you think?” Virgil asked, turning back to Logan.

“It’s up to you. It’s not my Ad Aetatem,” Logan said.

“Uh okay, sure, why not,” Virgil agreed.

Roman visibly brightened, a smile spreading across his face.

“Great!” he said, “Okay. So what’s the plan!”

“Roman?” a new voice then called.

Roman’s eyes widened and he turned to face the new voice who was coming from behind him.

“Pat!” he greeted loudly, causing Logan to flinch back and rock gently. “Just who I was hoping to see! How are you feeling?”

Pat giggled and joined the gang. His skin was a deep brown and and he had eyes that bulged slightly and seemed to change colors like the leaves outside. After a moment, Virgil realized they didn’t just _seem_ to be changing colors, they _were_ changing colors. He must be a nymph or something of similar nature.

“I’m doing okay. Better at least,” Pat first addressed Roman. He then turned to Virgil and Logan, “Hello, I’m Patton. He/him.”

He held his hand out, looking expectantly at them. Virgil shrugged and grasped the hand shaking it.

“I’m Virgil. He/him.”

Patton turned to Logan next, continuing to hold out a hand that shook slightly with a tremor.

“I’m Logan. They/them. I don’t shake.”

Patton shrugged and dropped his hand, wide smile never ceasing to fall from his face.

“New friends of yours Roman?”

“More like he high-jacked our tour of town insisting that we needed to go on an adventure,” Virgil huffed before Roman got a chance to speak.

“Hey!” Roman complained, “You agreed.”

“So I did.”

“Oh can I come!” Patton pitched, “Adventuring with new friends sounds fun!”

“I mean, I don’t see why not,” Virgil said with a shrug before turning towards Logan, “Didn’t your ren say part of this was for me to meet new people so I wasn’t so ‘miserably alone.’”

“I think that was the idea, yes,” Logan agreed.

“Oh! I love meeting new people!” Patton said, “And hey you know what, how about I invite my other friend. I was telling them just the other day that they should try to branch out more.”

“We already have plenty of people,” Virgil said bluntly. Four was getting to be a lot and this was already overwhelming.

“But they have a car!”

Virgil considered it, glancing back outside at the blustering wind that he really didn’t want to have to face again if he could help it.

“Okay,” he agreed, “They can join.”

Really, what was one more to whatever this disaster of a group was turning into?

“Awesome! Lemme call ‘em,” Patton announced. He pulled out his phone before tapping at the screen a few times and then lifting it up to his ear. “Dee,” he said into the phone, “Bring your car. We’re going on an adventure!”

Virgil didn’t intend to listen to Patton’s phone call, but Patton was right there and didn’t attempt to move away or be quiet. Plus, Virgil would be meeting this person in a short while anyway, it would probably be good to know a bit about them.

From the call Virgil gathered that Dee was apparently much more similar to Logan and Virgil, and very much was not looking forward to an adventure. But it seemed that it was very hard to say no to Patton and in almost no time at all, a car pulled up outside the shop.

The four of them pushed outside, and after a bit of squabbling for the front seat (Virgil won- wings and a tail being his advantage) they finally got into the car. Dee was also running the heater, which Virgil very much appreciated, but turned it down when Patton entered the car, which Virgil did not appreciate but was not going to protest.

“So,” Dee drawled once they were all in, “Who the hell are you and what's this about an adventure?”

“Hi, Roman here,” Roman said, leaning forward as far as he could from his unfortunate spot in the middle, “Simple things: Virgil’s a dragon, he’s here on his Ad something or whatever, and he’s never left his clan ever so we’re trying to show him everything.”

“Ad Aetatem,” Virgil hissed, “And we are not trying to show me _everything_ , we’ve been over that. Just _some_ things.”

“And you decided to start this grand adventure with a coffee shop?” Dee asked.

“It was a practical and reliable place to visit first!” Logan protested, “Virgil is very likely to be experiencing culture shock and easing him into a new are place slowly while still surrounding him by somewhat familiar sights is a good place to start.”

“Yeah Logan here’s a bit of a bore,” Roman started, slinging an arm around Logan’s shoulders, “But-”

“Don’t touch me!” Logan yelped, twisting away from Logan the best they could in the tight space.

Roman instantly pulled his arm off and backed towards Patton to give Logan space.

Logan immediately drew their legs up to their chest, clutching them tightly. A moment later they started to bang their head against their knees. They started slowly at first, but soon picked up speed and force until Virgil was certain that the motion had to hurt.

“Uh, should we do something?” Patton said, “They’re going to hurt themself!”

“They just said not to touch them though?” Roman pitched in, frown outlining his worry.

“But we can’t just let them hurt themself,” Patton protested.

“Well if you have any genius ideas about how to stop them from hurting themself without touching them I am all ears Pat, but I really don’t see any way,” Roman said with a snarl.

“I-” Patton said, eyes turning misty.

Roman seem to realize what he’d done and looked instantly apologetic.

“Hey I’m sorry Pat, I-”

“Does anyone have a pen?” Virgil asked, only half paying attention to their conversation, suddenly struck with an idea. He usually carried one on him, but for some reason he couldn’t find one. He must have left it at the tattoo studio.

“I do,” Dee volunteered, handing one over.

“Awesome, awesome,” Virgil said, “Someone look up a cushion spell or something. Someone else check that it’s not gonna be permanent of have like everlasting damage or some shit,” Virgil demanded as he uncapped the pen. He scribbled across his arm, making sure it worked. The ink didn’t work great and it was rough, but it would have to do.

“I’m sorry, are you about to do magic?” Roman said, not sounding very sorry at all. Instead he sounded quite incredulous.

“If one of you can get me a damn spell than yeah, I’m gonna try,” Virgil ground at. Seconds later and Dee was pushing his phone in Virgil’s face.

“Here,” he said, “It’s safe.”

Virgil shrugged and started to write, copying the exact lines and patterns as the drawing depicted on the phone. When it was finished, Virgil pressed down on it, chanted the trigger word, and then shot it towards Logan’s knees, hoping it would work.

It did, Logan’s knees started to glow softly with the spell. Logan didn’t seem to notice and continued banging their head. But it also meant that it couldn’t be hurting them anymore, so Virgil counted that as a win. He sighed in relief just as Roman spoke up.

“You know _magic_?!” Roman hissed.

“Kinda?” Virgil said, “I mean, yeah, I’m a witch but I’m not very good at it.”

“That seemed pretty good to me kiddo,” Patton defended.

Virgil sighed and shifted in his seat, wings a bit cramped.

“Thanks,” he said, “Just didn’t ever get the chance to learn much growing up so I don’t know a lot.”

“Wait wait wait,” Roman said, “Are you saying that you’re not a Learned witch.”

“No. No I’m a Blood witch.”

“I just- Well I never thought dragons could be-”

“Roman,” Patton interrupted, “Think about what your saying. Now think about the people who are sitting in this car, including yourself. I’m literally half nymph, half human. Virgil being a dragon witch cannot be that surprising.”

“...You have a good point,” Roman admitted, “Sorry Virgil.”

Virgil just shrugged.

“But I dunno if I really count Pat, I think reincarnation is a whole different thing than-”

“Reincarnation?” a voice spoke up.

The four other people turned to look at Logan, who had seemingly stopped banging and was now apparently asking questions.

“Yeah,” Roman admitted.

“What do you mean by reincarnation?” Logan said, refusing to look up from the floor.

“I-” Roman started. He deflated, then shrugged, “I guess I owe you anyways. Uh my name isn’t Roman. Or well, it is, I go by Roman. It’s my name-”

Virgil nodded, understanding the importance of a name you got to choose and decide.

“But uh, I was born with the name Romulus. And my brother got Remus.”

“The wolf twins,” Logan said.

Roman scowled and clutched his arms to his chest with a huff.

“We aren’t wolves,” he protested, “Just raised by one.”

“Wait wait wait. Didn’t you found Rome. And then kill your brother?” Dee asked, turning in his seat to look back at Roman.

“ _I_ didn’t do anything,” Roman said, “Like I said, reincarnation.”

“And that means?”

“It means that Romulus and Remus were fucking _idiots_ who got themselves fucking cursed and now I’m trapped as Romulus without any of his memories but with a curse that says that I’m going to kill my own brother one day and only _then_ will I be able to die. And then two new twins will be born and raised by a wolf and the whole fucking thing will start all over again for eternity because Romulus was an idiot who got himself cursed. And I’m _not_ him. Got it?”

There were murmurs of understanding and a heavy layer of uncomfortable tension fell over the car.

Suddenly Virgil started laughing.

“What’s so funny Emo Nightmare?” Roman snapped.

“I’m sorry, it’s just- it’s just,” Virgil said through wheezes, “You were so fucking hyped to meet a dragon when you’re literally the founder of Rome man.”

Roman tried to scowl, but ended up cracking a smile.

“Whatever,” he scoffed, even as his posture relaxed.

“Okay, well now that we got the drama out of the way, where to?” Dee asked.

“First, Virgil can you please take the charm off my legs?”

“Oh right!” Virgil said. He tapped the still glowing design on his arm twice and it faded instantly. The glow from Logan’s knees also faded as well.

“Oh yeah, this is going just peachy,” Dee drawled, “What a great start.”

This time the wheezing laughter didn’t belong to Virgil alone.

* * *

Virgil chuckled as the memory came back to him, and he was still snickering slightly as the door behind him opened.

“What’s so funny little one?” his mother’s rumbling voice asked him.

“I’m about to marry four absolute idiots,” Virgil admitted.

“Yes, yes you are,” she agreed, “But you love them.”

“I do.”

She hummed in response and moved automatically to fix his tie absentmindedly, in that way only mothers could. Virgil rolled his eyes at the behavior, but let her.

When she was done, she looked directly at Virgil, a smile stretching across her face. Virgil smiled back and was startled to find her eyes clouded with tears.

“Mom?” he asked, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine little one,” she soothed, “Just wondering when the hell you grew up, and how the hell I missed it.”

Virgil’s heart sunk.

“Mom, do you ever think I made the wrong choice by not returning to the clan after my Ad Aetatem ended?”

She gave him a soft smile and a sigh.

“Anxiety, darling, why are you marrying these four people today?”

“What? Mom I was the one asking-”

“Anxiety, little one, _Virgil_. Answer me.”

“Well because I love them.”

“Why? Each one of them, why do you love them?”

* * *

Patton was the easiest to fall in love with. Virgil could still remember the day.

Virgil had arrived at Patton’s apartment, tears streaking down his face for no goddamn reason at all. He had knocked on the door, needing the friendly nature spirit who always knew when he needed a hug.

Patton had opened the door, bleary-eyed even though it was past noon. He had taken one look at Virgil and immediately rushed him into his apartment and herded him to the couch. Virgil collapsed on it instantly and Patton quickly followed. If Virgil had been paying more attention or had been a little less emotional, he might have noticed the tremors in Patton’s hands or how there were small beads of sweat across his body

“Oh Virge, honey, what’s the matter?” Patton asked soothingly.

Virgil just collapsed into his side, tears racing down his face as the floodgates opened.

“I miss home,” Virgil howled miserably, “I- I miss my mom and then elders and the fledglings. I miss, I miss knowing everyone’s names, knowing everyone. I miss people knowing what I mean and talking the same way I do. I miss- I miss my clan,” he sniveled.

“Oh, oh darling,” Patton had said and clutched him even closer as Virgil continued to cry.

They stayed there for a good solid fifteen minutes before Virgil could even begin to think about detaching. He pulled back slightly, and he gratefully took the tissues Patton offered, wiping at his runny nose. He sniffled every once in a while as a few stray tears continued to fall from his face.

“Virgil honey, what’s going on?” Patton asked, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this upset.”

“I don’t even know,” he said miserably, “The past nine months have been great since meeting you and the others. Usually, usually things are great,” he insisted, “I’m just- I just really really miss my clan right now.”

“Well you can always go visit.” Before Virgil could even have a chance to shoot that down Patton continued on. “I know that breaks your Ad Aetatem darling, but you’ve said yourself that the tradition can be bent if need be. That you can visit if you need to.”

Virgil sniffled and shrugged.

“And,” Patton continued in that honey-smooth voice of his, “You only have two more months here anyway. Then you can go home and-”

Virgil cut him off with a kiss. Seconds later, he broke it off and leaped off the couch, putting as much space between him and Patton as possible. Patton stared up at him in shock

“I- I-” Virgil said, looking down the room wildly, “I- uh, I should go. I-”

“Virgil,” Patton said, voice firm, “Sit back down.”

Virgil did.

He flopped back on the couch on the furthest point away from Patton. He immediately caved his face in his hands and used his wings to build a cocoon around him, separating him from the rest of Patton’s apartment, including Patton himself.

“Virgil. Virgil you leave in two months.”

“I know,” he said miserably.

“Then why- why would you…”

“Because I love you!” Virgil shouted “I’m in love with you! And I think, I think I might be in love with Logan and Dee and Roman as well. I’m not sure yet.”

Patton made some sort of involuntary whimper noise.

“And, and I love you and I don’t want to go home. Because even if you don’t love me back, Brokfield has become my home. You have become my home. And Logan and Dee and Roman and the tattoo shop and I like it here and I don’t want to go back.”

“You- You just said you were homesick,” Patton said weakly, a tremor to his voice.

“I know,” Virgil said miserably, “I know. And I am. I miss my clan so so much. But I can’t bear the thought of leaving here, of leaving my home. Because that’s what this has become.”

“You go back in two months.”

“What if I didn’t though. What if I stayed?”

Patton looked down at Virgil, something unknown in his expression. Virgil gulped at the intensity of his gaze and continued.

“I’m serious,” Virgil said.

He was. He hadn’t quite been thinking about it consciously, because thinking about it actually meant addressing his feelings, but Virgil thought it had probably been on his mind for a while. It was a thought the floated through his head that he wasn’t sure what to do with. But he needed to deal with it, he knew he did. Patton was right, he only had two more months and he needed to acknowledge the fact that he wanted to stay.

“Virgil- Don’t, don’t stay for me.”

Virgil’s heart shattered.

“I- I can’t say I don’t feel the same way,” Patton continued, “God, I do. You’re- you’re _perfect_ Virgil, how could I _not_ feel the same? But I could never forgive myself if I was what kept you from your clan.”

“You wouldn’t be,” Virgil insisted, “You’re only one piece and it’s- It’s not just you Pat. It’s the others. And it’s my job, and it’s this city. It’s me. I like it here. I really really do. And I miss my family, my clan, my home, every day. But I’ve made my own home here. All of you have become my hoard.”

“I-” Patton begun again, “Wait what? Hoard?”

Virgil blushed. Had he really called them his hoard? God, how embarrassing was that?

“What’s- What do you mean by hoard?”

Oh, Patton didn’t know. Virgil forgot that Beyonders didn’t have the same language as dragons.

“Uh, dragons, well they hoard. So I’m assuming you’ve heard the concept of dragons hoarding before, right?” Virgil stumbled through asking.

Patton scrunched his eyebrows together.

“Yeah? With like gold and stuff, hoarding valuables, right?”

Virgil winced at the relation. While it didn’t come as a surprise to him that that was Patton’s evaluation of what it meant to have a hoard- Beyonders were well known for constantly getting dragon culture wrong- it was still a hurtful assumptions.

“Yeah, no,” Virgil said, “That’s definitely not what a hoard is. Beyonders heard the word hoard and assumed it meant that we kept our valuables close- which is not technically wrong I guess- but they tend to assume it means we get protective and sensitive over physical possessions of monetary value. Which is completely wrong. A dragon’s hoard is kind of like a family but not exactly. It’s the ones you vow to spend the rest of you life with. You’re attached to them forever. It can be romantic, sexual, platonic. You’re life partners. That’s what a dragon’s hoard is.”

“And I’m part of that?” Patton asked, looking distinctly nervous.

Virgil flushed and he pulled his wings in. He looked down at the floor to avoid Patton’s eyes.

“I- If you want to be,” Virgil admitted, voice small.

“Virgil,” Patton said softly. Virgil looked up, and once more Patton’s eyes were filled with unshed tears. Virgil gulped and was about to hang his head when soft lips met his. Virgil flushed deeply, but didn’t break apart, instead deepening the kiss. After a few moments, Patton broke apart, pressing his forehead against Virgil's. “I would love to be part of your hoard. Hopefully romantically. I’m ace- which you know- so not sexually. But-”

Virgil silenced him with another kiss. Patton met him eagerly and their hands tangled in each others hair. Patton’s hand found a position on the nape of the neck, his warm hands soft on Virgil’s scales. Virgil melted into the touch.

“Okay, okay we need to talk about this though,” Patton said once they broke apart. “We- I- You can’t just say ‘hey I’m not going back without thinking about it’ okay? I want to, I want to try us and I’d love, I’d love to have Dee, Ro, and Lo join as well. We’ve, we’ve all been thinking it. I know we all have, we just didn’t, if you were going to go home we-”

“I get it,” Virgil said, “I get it. We’ll try it out. I think I wanna stay regardless of how it goes. But I’ll think about it more. But let’s try it out regardless.”

“Okay, okay, yeah,” Patton said, nodding to show his agreement, “We should talk. About boundaries and stuff. I’m- I’m gonna get some water. Do you want some?”

“Sure,” Virgil said.

Patton nodded, hands shaking. He stood up slowly and took a step toward the kitchen, he wavered slightly and Virgil immediately knew what was going to happen. He stood quickly, and not even seconds later, Patton fell. Luckily, Virgil had acted fast enough and managed to catch him.

“Holy shit, Pat,” he said urgently.

“M’fine,” Pat insisted, voice slurred as he slumped against Virgil’s body.

“Fine!” Virgil repeated, slightly hysterical, “Fine?!”

“Ju’ hel’me to th’couch?” he asked.

Virgil nodded, even though Patton seemed to not be looking at anything at all, much less Virgil. Virgil practically carried Patton the short distance back to the couch.

“Holy sh- Patton are you okay?” Virgil demanded, heart-hammering.

“I’ll b’fine,” Patton insisted, “Really, jus’ give me a m’nute okay?”

Virgil quieted, but continued to hover, watching Pat for fear he’d pass out or something else. Patton’s hands shook horribly- much worse than Virgil had even seen- extending to even his arms. Patton just closed his eyes tightly and breathed slowly.

“Virgil?” he said after a minute, “Can you please go get a cool washcloth and some water.”

“I- Yes, absolutely,” Virgil agreed, racing off to do just that.

He returned not a minute later with what Patton had requested. Under Pat’s direction, he placed the washcloth on the back of his neck. He then helped Patton take slow slips of water, holding the glass for him because his trembling hands couldn’t.

It was possibly the tensest ten minutes of Virgil’s life.

After ten minutes, a bit of light returned to Patton’s eyes. His voice cleared completely, and he sat up a bit straighter. But he was still sweating, and shaking, and Virgil took notice of how utterly exhausted he looked.

Virgil had seen all of these symptoms before in Pat, especially the exhaustion, but he had never seen them this bad. He wondered if that had been intentional.

“Are you- Are you okay?” Virgil asked.

Patton winced at the question.

“No,” he admitted softly.

Virgil’s heart thudded and his brain went into panic mode.

“I- I- will you be okay?”

“No.”

Virgil was in full-freak out zone. His childhood name had never felt so fitting. There was, there was something wrong with Patton, wasn’t there? Like something really wrong. His breath grew heavy and labored and the air around him grew thick, seeming to choke him.

“Hey, hey V, V you got to breathe. What’s- what’s your breathing thing again?”

Patton’s voice seemed distant and far away, but Virgil did his best to listen. And he did have breathing thing, didn’t he?

4-7-8.

Virgil began to breathe again.

It took another minute to get his breath steady, but much shorter than if it had been a full-blown panic attack.

“Sorry,” he said meekly when he had mostly recovered.

Patton shook his head in response and shifted his position slightly. The washcloth on his neck started to slip and he readjusted it.

“You don’t need to apologize,” he insisted.

Easier said than done.

“Okay.”

But Virgil could try. He knew he needed to try and stop apologizing for every little thing.

“I just, so, uh… You’re not going to be okay?”

“No,” Patton said once more. Virgil swallowed and nodded, “I, I think you’ve started to connect the dots, right? I- I might get better sometimes. Sometimes will be even worse. But I’m- I’m never really okay. I’m a nature spirit, Virgil.”

“O-okay, what does that have to do with…” Virgil trailed off.

“I’m part of the Earth, Virgil. Our world is dying, and I am dying with it.”

“O- oh.”

“Not immediately. And it might not kill me. But as our Earth worsens, I’ll worsen with it. I have better days and worse ones. The worse days will probably only increase.”

“And today, today is…”

“One of the bad ones, yeah.”

“Oh.”

“I just- if you want to- this is going to part of my whole life Virgil. It’s- there’s no fix to this, no cure. Even if our Earth can be helped, I don’t know if this would ever leave me. I just want you to know what you're in for.”

Virgil’s heart thudded as he tried to process the information that Patton had given him. Patton was sick, like really sick. He wasn’t going to get better. For some reason, Patton also seemed to think that meant Virgil wouldn’t want to be with him.

“I- You think I wouldn’t want you because you’re sick?”

“Chronically. I’m chronically ill. And yes. There are some things I’m never going to be able to do. Sometimes I need to cancel plans and I might need to stop working one day. I might need more help with things, but at the same time I require respect and independence. I’m not incompetent and treating me as such doesn’t help me at all. And it can be, well, a lot.”

“But, but you’ve always been this way? You’ve always needed these things and even if it gets worse why, why would you think that would change?”

_Why would you think I’d leave you?_

Virgil left that question unvoiced.

“It’s, it’s different being friends versus being together.”

“Okay. But I still want to be with you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I’ll probably fuck up though, so you’ll need to teach me.”

“I can do that. As long as you respect me and listen to me, we can figure it out together.”

“That sounds good,” Virgil agreed.

With that, Patton let out a loud yawn.

“Did you- if you want to take a nap or something I can go?” Virgil offered.

Patton shook his head.

“I’m exhausted, but I won’t be able to sleep,” he explained, “No need to leave unless you want to.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Okay. Well then, how does cuddling sound instead? I don’t really feel up to doing much of anything.”

“Cuddling sounds perfect,” Virgil admitted.

Patton gave him a soft smile and a peck on the cheek and Virgil was in love.

* * *

“I love Patton because he’s there for me, whenever I need him. He’s kind and he’s caring and he doesn’t always know what I need but he’s willing to try and he does his best. I love Patton because his heart is bigger than anyone else I have ever known.”

“That seems like a good reason to love someone,” his mother commented as she placed a hand on his shoulder, allowing their wings to brush.

“It is,” Virgil agreed.

His mother nodded and then their eyes met in the mirror ahead.

“Who’s next?”

* * *

Roman came next. Virgil had always considered it sort of ironic that he fell in love with Roman during his thirteenth month of living outside of his clan. Thirteen was largely considered a cursed number, and well, Roman was also cursed. He fell in love with a cursed man on a cursed month.

Virgil had been anxious all day, had been for the past two weeks.

“Virgil,” Picani had offered, “Do you want to talk about it?”

Virgil had shook his head and gone back to work, shoving the anxiety deep within him. It was for a good reason, he insisted to himself, after all his hands couldn’t shake while tattooing someone.

It was about an hour before close when Roman came strolling through the doors.

“C’mon Count Woe-laf time to go,” he called cheerfully.

“Roman, Roman what are you doing here? There’s still an hour until close,” Virgil said.

“I told him to come pick you up. Or well, I told the datemate brigade to send someone to pick you up,” Emile explained.

“Emile, we don’t close for an hour.”

“I know, but you don’t have any appointments and we don’t talk walk-ins this late. You’ve got nothing to do and you’re just sitting in your thoughts repressing everything. Go home with your boyfriend.”

Virgil’s wings flared out at being called-out so plainly. He thought about protesting, but Emile gave him a look and Virgil rescinded. Going home one night early wasn’t that big of a deal.

“I’m not repressing anything,” he protested.

“Sure you’re not,” Emile said, voice flat to show that he wasn’t convinced.

Virgil huffed, flared his wings again, but started packing up anyways.

Soon enough, Roman was gently guiding him out of the building, cheerfully saying goodbye to Emile as they left.

When they got outside, Virgil took a minute to make sure they were headed to his apartment, and not Roman’s. If he was being forced to go home, he wanted to actually go home.

Home. Had it really been two weeks past the ending of Virgil’s Ad Aetatem? He was a legal adult now. Of age. And that had been two weeks ago. Not only that, but he was still in Brokfield. He had chosen to stay. He had chosen to stay and it had been two weeks and he wasn’t with his clan but he was home. He wasn’t supposed to be here. He couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.

“What’s up with you Marilyn Monrose?”

“Nothing,” Virgil brooded.

Had he made the right decision by staying? No, that wasn’t even a question. Virgil knew he had made the right decision. It was just…

“Well something’s obviously up,” Roman huffed, “C’mon just tell me,” he continued to pester.

“God would you just shut up,” Virgil hissed.

Roman’s steps faltered for a moment, briefly falling behind before catching back up again.

“No can do JDelightful,” he said, “You either talk to me, or you ask for space respectfully instead of snapping. I’m trying to be supportive but I can’t do that if you won’t even communicate to me that you want space.”

“Okay- Okay I want space,” Virgil hissed, “ _Now_ will you shut up?”

“Sure,” Roman agreed, “I would still like to walk you home though. But I can be quiet for that. That work?”

“Sure. Fine. Whatever,” Virgil spat out.

Roman nodded and fell silent. Virgil took a breath in of the early spring air. It was just starting to warm up, something Virgil happened to be incredibly grateful for. He shivered a bit, wings stretching out on reflex and barely avoiding knocking over Roman.

“Sorry,” he whispered.

Roman said nothing.

That’s when the tears started flowing.

“I’m sorry,” Virgil said again, “Gosh, Roman I’m so sorry.”

“I’m assuming this isn’t just about almost nailing me in the face with your wing?”

Virgil shook his head.

“I- I shouldn’t have snapped that wasn’t okay,” Virgil said, “I’m sorry.”

“All’s forgiven,” Roman said, “Can I touch you?”

Virgil nodded and Roman pulled him close and then pressed a kiss to his forehead.

“Let’s get you home,” Roman said.

Virgil nodded and did exactly that, only taking a few more minutes to arrive at Virgil’s apartment. He went shuffling in his pockets for his keys, and finally pushed the door open.

Roman seemed to hover outside, so Virgil took his hand and dragged him in with him. He still felt apologetic and needed Roman to know that.

“Do you want to stay?” Virgil first asked. He wasn’t going to make Roman stay if he didn’t want to, or if he had other things he needed to be doing.

“Yes,” Roman agreed, “I want to stay.”

Virgil nodded and started to nest.

He made sure the blankets and pillows were good first. Roman would be joining him which meant that he had to widen it a little. He also had to add more blankets. Or maybe ‘had to’ was a bit strong considering his nest was covered in blankets already, but more blankets were always good.

When the nest had been molded to his liking, he gently shoved Roman in it. He wore an amused smile, but let himself be bullied into it, so Virgil wasn’t complaining. Virgil then circled the nest a few times before entering it himself.

He then latched onto Roman, and buried them both into the covers.

“Do you want to talk now?” Roman asked after a moment.

Virgil closed his eyes and shoved his face into the back of Roman’s neck.

“That’s not an answer Robert Downer Junior,” Roman pointed out.

Virgil just buried deeper.

“Ever heard the phrase ‘burying your head in the sand,’” Roman offered.

Virgil shook his head and clung onto Roman harder.

“It’s when you attempt to ignore reality around you, generally because it’s unpleasant and hard to manage. But the problem with burying your head under the sand is that when you take it back out, the problems are still there. And even while your head is buried, you’re continuously worried about when you are inevitably going to have to unbury your head. No matter how you play it, you don’t win.”

“‘M not burying my head,” Virgil protested.

“Okay,” Roman said.

“I’m not.”

“Okay.”

“Do you think I made the right choice?”

“About?”

“Staying.”

Roman hummed and tried to turn to face Virgil, but Virgil just clung harder, not quite ready to be looked at. There was a certain intimacy in being looked at, and Virgil was much too fragile for that right now.

“Do _you_ think you made the right choice?” he asked.

“Yes,” Virgil confirmed.

But the problem was that while Virgil did think he made the right choice, he still managed to be wrong a lot of the time. He was confident in his decision, but that didn’t make it the right one.

Which was why Virgil needed Roman to answer. Roman was always so sure of himself and his choices. While Roman also happened to be fairly ridiculous at times, he also seemed to make fairly good choices, so Virgil was quick to trust his judgement.

“Do you think I’m making the right choice?” Virgil asked again.

“Virge, I can’t answer for you. It’s not- It’s your decision,” Roman insisted from where he was still being aggressively spooned by Virgil.

“I know. But do you think I’m making the right choice?”

“Why do you want me to-”

“Do you think I’m making the right choice?!” Virgil demanded in a harsher voice.

“I don’t know. I don’t- Virgil I don’t know what you want me to tell you. I don’t know if it’s the right choice.”

If Virgil had been paying more attention he would of realized Roman sounded just as lost as Virgil felt. But, Virgil was caught up too much in his mind to notice.

“Why can’t you just give me an answer,” Virgil huffed.

Roman ripped away from Virgil at that point. He followed this up by clamoring out of the nest. The action sent a shock of ‘not right’ shivering through Virgil. He whimpered softly.

“Virgil. I can’t give you an answer. I’ve made it clear that it’s not my answer that matters anyways. And then when you continued to push, I told you that I didn’t know. Because ultimately, this is your decision. Do I want you to stay? Yes, but only if that’s best for you. But I need you to stop asking me because I’m obviously not going to give you what you’re looking for.”

“I just want you to answer the question!” Virgil protested.

“No, no you don’t,” Roman said, “Because I did answer it. Just not in a way that made you happy. You want me to either give you a clear yes or a clear no. I don’t know why that’s so important to you. But I can’t give that to you.”

“I-” Virgil stuttered, because how could he continue to protest when he knew Roman was right.

“What do you want from me Virgil?”

What did Virgil want?

He thought he wanted an answer, but maybe that wasn’t really what he wanted. Maybe what he really wanted was love and support and a shoulder to cry on. Pushing Roman away and demanding answers from him wasn’t the way to get that.

Virgil started to cry.

“I’m sorry,” he said immediately, “I’m sorry Roman. I didn’t mean to- you didn’t deserve that- I shouldn’t of-” he took a choking breath around sobs, “I’m sorry Roman, I shouldn’t have pushed you or demanded you answer when I wasn’t happy with what you said. I shouldn’t have gotten angry at you. That wasn’t fair of me.”

“Okay. Yeah it wasn’t okay,” Roman agreed.

“I’m sorry.”

“I forgive you. But I also need you to work on trying to make sure that won’t happen again.”

“Yes,” Virgil agreed, “Yes. It wasn’t fair of me.”

“Okay,” Roman said.

Roman sighed, gave a small smile and crawled back into Virgil’s nest. Virgil’s breath caught in his throat at the gesture. Here he was being a dick and Roman was still nesting him.

Virgil thought about the worry that had been enveloping him the past few days. He took another breath and spilled.

“I- I know I made the right choice,” Virgil said, “I did. I know I did. And even if I didn’t make the right choice, or if my choice changes, I can always go back to my clan. I know that isn’t a conditional thing.”

Roman nodded to show that he understood.

“But I’m still worried,” Virgil confessed, “It’s- I just made a huge life decision. I mean, this is my entire life decision. My entire future. I can’t help but worry about it.”

That startled a laugh out of Roman.

Virgil curled into himself defensively, wings moving to envelop him.

“Hey, hey, no Virgil I wasn’t laughing at you,” he insisted.

Virgil stilled and wanted for an explanation, allowing his wings to fall away just enough so he could still see Roman.

“I- it’s okay to be worried about the future Virgil. Honestly I’d be a bit worried if you _weren’t_ worried about it.”

“But I’m _really_ worried about it.”

Virgil knew that this was more than a healthy fear, turning into obsessive anxiety instead. He just didn’t know how to stop his brain from spiraling to that point.

“Yeah I can see that,” Roman agreed, “and that's okay because we can work on that. It’s- I understand you’re worried about the future Virgil, because a lot of it is out of your control. And it seems so far and distant. You don’t know what’s going to happen and that’s really scary.”

“Yeah,” Virgil’s agreed. He felt like maybe Roman got it.

“Here’s the thing, while it’s impossible to control the future, we can control our present.”

“I know that,” Virgil said, “And I made my choice. But I’m still worried about it.”

“I didn’t finish,” Roman said gently.

“Oh sorry. Continue.”

“You’re right, things might go badly or maybe you get to a point where you think you made a wrong choice. But thinking about those things obsessively is just going to create a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more you think ‘this is going to end badly, I know it is’ the more reasons you give for it to end badly. But what if instead we work on just living in the moment? Let the future come. And if, if it is still as bad as your worst fears, then we’ll adjust. Virgil, if in a few months you realize you made the wrong choice, you can _change that choice_. You can change it in a year or five or twenty. It might be hard to change and it might require a lot of thought and consideration, but you _can_ do it. Changing the future is impossible, but changing the present is doable. We just gotta wait until the future becomes the present.”

Tears leaked down Virgil’s face in steady streams, wracking his body with sobs. Roman’s outlook, Roman’s validation had made so much sense. It was gratifying to hear but also forced Virgil’s fears to the forefront of his mind, brain swirling with what-ifs and scenarios that could go wrong.

“Virgil?” Roman said.

Virgil continued to cry, breath hitching until he stumbled to catch his breath.

“Hey V, deep breath in. 4-7-8 darling.”

Virgil nodded and practiced doing so. Roman helped him count aloud until his breathing was a bit more manageable.

“It’s- I think about it a lot too,” Roman confessed when Virgil could breathe again, “it can be-” Roman gulped, “it can be really hard to accept. Especially the things you can’t control. I- I just try to rationalize it. Live in the moment. It’s really all we can do.”

“You’re talking about Remus,” Virgil realized.

“Yeah. I mean. I worry about it all the time. But as a kid it was- it was really bad y'know? I didn’t want to talk to him or interact with him at all. I mean it was- I was going to kill him right? It’s- I dunno. Thought it would hurt too much. I know I told you about- as a kid- when I-”

“Yeah,” Virgil agreed. Roman still avoided that bridge. It would of killed anyone else, but Roman, Roman couldn’t die. Not until he killed Remus.

“And it’s scary- it’s scary knowing that that’s going to happen. That I’m going to do that. But it’s not something I can control. I used- I used to try and justify it as a kid? To cope? That maybe, maybe I would have to. Maybe it would be the better of two evils. Maybe he’d get really sick or injured or something. Something that wouldn’t make it as bad.

“But the truth is that I don’t know. I don’t know how or when or why. I just know that I’m going to. But I can’t- there’s so many unknowns. And I can’t- there’s nothing I can do to control that. It’s going to happen one day. I know that. But I can’t- I can’t give up my life in the meantime. All I can do is live in each moment, tackle each things when I get to it.”

Virgil considered that, mulling it over in is mind. Roman’s outlook made a lot of sense. It seemed practical. It also didn’t seem easy.

“That seems… really hard,” Virgil admitted.

“It is. But it’s better than the alternative.”

“I- I fell kinda stupid now complaining about my own issues.”

Here was Roman, living with a terrible curse hanging over his life and Virgil was sitting here worrying about if he should’ve returned to his clan. It seemed so stupid in comparison.

“I don’t need pity Virgil.”

“I know. I just- it gives me a good reason to invalidate my own struggles you know. I- I know I shouldn’t do it. But comparing my issues to yours makes- I-”

“It just hurts both of us.”

“I know. That’s why I’m trying not to. But I still thought I should tell you. I’ll- I wanna work on that. I’m- I’m thinking I might want to look into therapy. I used to go as a kid. But uh- I think it’s getting bad again. Like a lot worse. I need to- I need to do something about it.”

“That sounds like a good idea. I have some contacts if you want some help. I think Logan probably does too. But I dunno if theirs would really work for you.”

“Hmm. Yeah. I’d appreciate that- and I’ll ask them to.”

“Okay.”

“I love you.”

“I can- wait what?” Roman said.

Virgil was impressed that he actually caught Roman speechless for once.

“I love you,” Virgil repeated.

“Virgil!”

“Live in the present, right?” Virgil said, anxiety rising in him.

“I- yes but-”

Virgil’s heart sunk.

“But Virgil are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“I love you too,” Roman said, “I do. I really do.”

“Oh that’s good,” Virgil muttered, voice sounding distant to himself as he sat in muted shock for a moment. Roman grinned and Virgil realized that this was actually happening, and it was amazing.

“Yeah,” Roman said with a laugh, “I think I like living in the present thing. I love you.”

“I love too.”

“Me too.”

“I love you.”

They burst out into giggles.

“Tonight has been a night,” Virgil said.

Roman laughed, and nodded, and curled deeper into Virgil, content for now.

* * *

“I love Roman because he’s funny, and strong, and honest. He doesn’t- he doesn’t put up with my bullshit but he always supports me. Roman lives in the present, every day, and he makes me want to live there with him.”

“That’s powerful form of love,” Virgil’s mom said.

“It is,” Virgil agreed, “That’s what Roman is. Power.”

“I see. And who’s next?”

* * *

It took over another year before Virgil fell in love with Dee. It wasn’t that Virgil considered Dee to be less than any of Virgil’s other partners, or that Virgil love them any less. It just took Virgil longer to fall in love with them, and that was okay. It didn't have to mean anything more than that.

It had been in spring, when it was sunny, but also windy, tricking everyone into thinking it would be warm when it was absolutely not. But today was surprisingly nice, with the sunny warmth of spring, but without the heavy chilling wind.

Virgil had just arrived at home- the home the five of them now shared- and was going to walk straight in when he noticed the snake basking on the cement outside.

A smile formed on Virgil’s lips.

“Hello Dee,” Virgil said before remembering Dee wouldn’t be able to hear Virgil in this form (though they certainly noticed Virgil, their eyes trained on him). Virgil reached out his arm instead. Dee looked at Virgil’s arm, and then climbed up it, wrapping around Virgil. They continued to climb up, their head moving past Virgil’s forearm and towards his upper arm. A second later and Dee was shifting, and now Virgil was hugging his datemate close to his chest.

“Hello,” Virgil whispered.

“Mmm,” Dee replied, snuggling into Virgil, sleepy from basking.

“The cement warm?” Virgil asked.

“Mhmm,” Dee agreed, nuzzling Virgil’s neck, “Come bask with me?”

“Sure, let me just drop my stuff inside,” Virgil said.

Dee nodded, yawned, and detached themself.

“Kiss?” Virgil offered.

Dee nodded, pecked him lightly, and then pushed Virgil towards the house. Virgil went with a chuckle, dropping his stuff inside, before rejoining Dee quickly.

Dee had laid back down on the cement- this time in human form- and Virgil dropped to join him.

Arms and hands now on the cement, Virgil could feel the warm heat and he hummed in pleasure. He kicked off his shoes and socks to allow them exposure to the warmth as well.

“Feels nice,” Dee said.

“Mmm,” Virgil hummed in agreement. He huddled closer to Dee so their sides were pressed up against one another, bellies on the ground.

“Wish it was always warm like this,” Dee muttered, “Feel like I’m finally awake.” They ended their sentence with a yawn and Virgil laughed lightly.

“Yeah, real awake there,” Virgil teased, nudging them slightly.

“Shut up, You know what I mean,” they hissed.

Virgil laughed again and turned his head to let his cheek pressed against the warm cement.

“Yeah I do get it,” Virgil said after a moment, “It’s weird because it wasn’t as much of a thing, an issue, when I lived with my clan. I mean everyone would go into daily torpor in the winter. It was just part of life.”

“Sounds nice.”

“Yeah. It was. It’s one of those things I didn’t realize I’d have to adjust to. Like-”

“Like Patton and Logan getting up at the asscrack of dawn in the middle of winter?” Dee offered.

“Yeah,” Virgil said with a soft smile at the mention of two of their other partners, “But it does mean I get to snuggle with you instead. So- not complaining.”

“Sap.”

“Well I don’t see you complaining either so…” Virgil blinked his eyes open for just a minute to look at Dee. Dee had his eyes closed, but a soft smile also danced across his lips. Virgil hummed in contentment and closed his eyes again.

“It’s nice,” Dee defended, “You get it.”

Virgil hummed again and continued to just melt into the warm cement. Dee was smart to come out and bask out here. Virgil’s entire body was filled with warmth from the stone and sun. It was a nice relaxing break and a moment of peace between him and his datemate.

“I almost died as a kid,” Dee said abruptly.

Virgil clenched his eyes and moved closer (as if that was even possible) already knowing where this would be going.

“It was- it was a new foster family. And it wasn’t their fault, they didn’t know. Uh but it as more north than I had ever been before. And I mean it was that much further north, but it was enough. I was just, I was so cold. And I- I was pretty young, right? I didn’t know what the hell was going on. All I knew was that I couldn’t eat, and if I did I’d just throw up. I started to get sick and then didn’t get better and I was always falling asleep in class. The teacher’s did _not_ like that. And so, I just, I feel asleep in class one day, and I wouldn’t wake up.”

A weight settled in Virgil’s chest.

“Uh, I- I was brought to the hospital and they realized I was y’know- literally freezing to death. Got warmed up, got an IV to give me all the nutrients I hadn’t been able to digest. I mean I was fine besides losing sight in the one eye. But yeah, they moved me back south after that.”

“No shit. What did they not understand about being an ectotherm?”

Dee sighed and leaned into Virgil’s side a bit more as they seemed to search for words. Their hand came up to lazily draw protection sigils on the cement. Each one glowed briefly and sent a shock of safety through Virgil.

“Guess they only thought it would be an issue when I shifted into my snake form? I don't know.”

“Is that what your records said?” Virgil asked quietly. He thought he knew the answer, but he had to check.

Dee hesitated, which meant that Virgil had been correct in his assumption that he knew the answer.

“...No,” he admitted.

Virgil’s body tensed in anger and he was about to bite something back along the lines of ‘how the fuck could they treat you that way’ when Dee spoke again.

“So it’s just nice. Cause you get it.”

Virgil did get it. He also got that Dee probably wouldn’t appreciate Virgil making this a big thing right now.

“And it’s nice to share that with you,” Dee continued.

“It is,” Virgil agreed.

“I think I love you Virgil.”

Virgil froze, body tensing up again.

“I know neither of us have said it to each other yet. And that’s- that’s okay. There’s no pressure to say it back-”

“I think I love you too.”

“Are you sure?”

Virgil was.

“Yes,” Virgil said, “I’m sure. I promise. I love you.”

“I’m sure as well. I love you. Now move over, you’re taking all the sun.”

“Am not!” Virgil squabbled back, “‘The shadows are pushing this way, I need to move your way to stay in the sun.”

“Well you're about to push me over the edge so…”

“You are nowhere near falling off.”

“Am so. Here, just let me scoot closer so neither of us fall off.”

Dee did so curling up further into Virgil’s side. Virgil rolled his eyes as he realized what they were doing.

“I think you’re just doing that to get more cuddles,” Virgil said.

“Hmmm, no, just want the sun. And to not fall off. Nothing to do with you.”

“Sure,” Virgil said, but curled into his side anyways.

It was in this exact position, Dee and Virgil pressed firmly up against one another, basking on the warm cement with the sun high above, that their partners found them hours later.

* * *

“I love Dee because they shine brighter than the sun. They’re sarcastic and witty, but they have an empathy and vulnerability to them that they reveal in time. And I’m honored each time they do.”

“Sounds like a love of patience, a love of respect and understanding,” his mother noted with a hum.

“It is,” Virgil said, “We’re equals.”

“That’s a hard- but remarkable- thing to be.”

Virgil nodded in agreement.

“And lastly?”

* * *

Virgil fell in love with Logan last, and he had also met Logan first. Falling in love with Logan was different than any of the others. Virgil cared about the others, but there had always been one single moment that had caused Virgil to realized that he loved them. With Logan, it had been building, compiling evidence of realizing his love.

Virgil had never been good at magic.

It wasn’t that he didn’t try, or lost focus easily, or was lazy about it. Virgil had simply never been very good because he’d never had anyone to teach him. He was a Blood witch, born with magic. They were common, so even if you didn’t have a parent to teach you, someone certainly could.

Virgil had never had that.

He lived with dragons, and almost all dragons were just dragons. Interspecies beings were rare with them, meaning that Virgil was an obvious outlier as both a Blood witch and a dragon. He had never had anyone to teach him.

It didn’t bother him most days. Virgil hadn’t grown up with witches, so he had never had anyone to compare himself with. Even the little magic that Virgil could do was more than anyone else, and that had always been remarkable, extraordinary. Virgil had never felt incompetent as a witch because he had never met anyone more competent. He had never even met another witch.

Until he moved to Brokfield.

Until he met Emile. Until he met Logan.

Logan was incredible at magic. They used everyday, in everything they did. It was natural and part of their life and Virgil was blown away with their talent. Unlike Virgil, Logan didn’t even have to write down the symbols and runes of spells when they cast them. They could just picture it in their head, and it would happen.

Which was why it surprised Virgil that Logan got so frustrated with their own magical essence.

Virgil entered the room to find Logan at the table that was now covered in books, Logan’s laptop, and pens. Logan’s shirt sleeves had been pulled up to leave a littering of symbols of ink on their arms, as well as a few teeth marks where Virgil could only guess they bit at their skin in frustration when they didn’t succeed at whatever they were attempting to do.

“Hey Lo,” Virgil said.

Logan didn't look up.

“Logan,” Virgil said again.

This time Logan gave a small grunt of acknowledgement.

“Logan honey, how long have you been working?”

Knowing Logan and how they always tended to hyperfixate on magic, it could have been hours.

“Not too long,” they insisted, staring at the screen of a laptop. They picked up one of the many pens on the table and carefully started to scrawl something on a piece of paper.

“Did you eat lunch?”

“Dunno. I’ve been busy.”

That was probably a no then. But Virgil checked the kitchen anyways.

The kitchen proved that Logan had probably not eaten. There were no dishes on the counter, in the sink, or in the dishwasher. Logan could have gone out and gotten something, but he would’ve remembered that. Which means he probably hadn’t eaten.

“Hey Lo, I think it’s time to take a break. I don’t think you’ve eaten since breakfast, and if you can’t remember eating, I think it’s safe to er on the side of caution.”

“I can’t take a break, I’m working right now.”

“I know. And I know you’re hyperfixating right now and it’s really hard to step away right now. But I also think it’s really important that you get some food in you, it’s not good to skip meals and I think you’ve probably been working for hours. That isn’t good for you.”

Logan didn’t say anything in response to that. They also didn’t move from their work.

“How about I set a timer for twenty minutes? You can wrap up, then we can take a break, and then you can go back to work?”

“Hmmm. Okay.”

Virgil nodded and set a timer on his phone before starting to work on lunch for him and Logan.

When the timer went off he was finishing up two sandwiches and brought them to the table.

“Logan?” he said, coming across his still working datemate.

“Yeah, yeah,” they said. They pushed the papers away and rubbed at their eyes. They then turned to look past Virgil.

Virgil just looked at his datemate with a soft smile and waited.

Logan blinked once, and then they were looking around, seemingly a little lost and finally snapping out of the hyperfixating haze.

“Lunch?” Virgil offered, pushing the plate forward.

Logan took it with a thank you.

“What time is it?” Logan asked after a moment.

“2:30.”

Logan blinked once, twice.

“Oh,” they said as they continued eating.

“What were you doing?” Virgil asked.

“Magic?”

“Yes but what in particular?” Virgil rephrased.

“Oh, temperature manipulation mostly. I’m trying to figure out if it’s possible for people to experience different temperatures in the same location.”

As they explained, they gestured to something or another on the papers in front of them that Virgil couldn’t even begin to understand.

“Neat,” Virgil said.

Logan nodded in obvious agreement. Their free hand moved in a quick curving motion and suddenly they were playing with golden light between their fingers. Virgil didn’t take much notice, used to Logan stimming with simple light magic.

“I love your magic,” Virgil remarked, and then, the slow building realization. “I love you,” he added.

Logan nodded, “I love you as well. Would you like me to teach you the light manipulation?”

“Sure,” Virgil agreed, scooting forward a bit in anticipation. It had always seemed like a fun thing to learn, and Virgil wasn’t really sure why neither of them had brought it up before.

Logan nodded and pushed away their plate.

“Lunch first Logan. You don’t have to finish if you don’t want, but I am.”

They finished lunch fairly quickly. Virgil tried to draw out the time a little bit, because while he was excited to learn the light magic, he also wanted to make sure that Logan was getting an actual break.

But soon enough they had finished and moved onto the magic.

Logan taught him the symbols first, starting by practicing on paper. They then moved to actually writing on skin. Once Virgil had gotten the symbol down, they worked on casting it. It was rough going at first. Virgil could cast it fairly easily, the golden light pooling in the air, but it was much harder to manipulate, especially with any amount of detail or precision. It shattered a lot, bursting away in a brilliant flash, the symbol disappearing on Virgil’s skin.

It was frustrating, and after what had to be the fourteenth or so time, Virgil huffed a breath of frustration and leaned back in his chair, not really up for trying again.

“You did really good that time,” Logan remarked.

“Yeah but I keep fucking up the precision and then it bursts,” Virgil grumbled.

Logan shrugged, “It takes practice.”

“But you seem to get it so quick,” Virgil huffed.

Logan shrugged again.

“You know I’m Learned,” they said, “there was a point in time when I didn’t even think I’d be able to do any of this. I saw my dad do magic and thought it was so cool but never once thought I would be able to do it. It took years before I cast my first spell and I never actually expected it to work. I’ve also practiced more than you, and I had my dad to help teach me, even though it was definitely a challenge considering he’s a Blood witch and I’m Learned. My point is that it takes time. That’s okay.”

“I guess,” Virgil agreed, “I- I never even used to be bugged by it- but your magic it’s- well it’s beautiful Logan, and you seem to pick it up so easily.”

“Thank you. And yes, I admit, new magic is generally easy for me to pick up at this point. _Creating_ my own magic is a much different story, but I doubt that was what you were referring to. In any case, it might take you longer than me to pick up magic. It might take you shorter. The important part is that your experience with magic is just as valid and cannot be compared to my own. I- wait,” Logan paused, looking up at Virgil. He actually met Virgil’s eyes, which was fairly uncommon, “Did you say you loved me earlier?”

Virgil smiled.

“I did,” he agreed.

Logan had said it before to him, but Virgil hadn’t been ready to say it back. Which was okay, Logan had been fine with that fact and Virgil had felt no pressure to return it quickly. It took Virgil a bit longer, but made it no less valid or true.

“I- okay,” Logan said, “That’s- very nice. I love you too.”

“I know. Thank you,” Virgil said. They stared at each other for a moment across the table. It was amazingly mundane, but somehow, the moment seemed more magical than any spell Virgil had ever cast.

“Do you want to keep learning the spell? For the light manipulation?” Logan asked after a few more seconds.

“Yes,” Virgil agreed, “Yes let’s.”

Together, they carried on.

* * *

“I love Logan because he’s gentle. He’s brilliant and he knows he’s brilliant and he’s proud of that. But the amazing thing about his brilliance is that he uses it in such a gentle supportive way. I trust him more than I’ve ever trusted anyone before.”

“A quiet love,” his mom mused, “Quiet, but thrumming with passion and energy. A love like a river, giving life and carrying you with it.”

“Yes,” Virgil agreed, “Yes, Logan’s love is like a river, and they swept me off my feet.”

His mom snorted.

“Hey!” Virgil protested, “You’re the one that used the river analogy!”

“Yeah but you’re the one that made it cheesy,” she said. She ruffled his hair and Virgil squaked in protest, trying desperately to set it straight.

“Mom!” he complained, “I’m getting married, don’t mess my hair up! It needs to look good!”

He continued to mess with it, using the mirror in front of him to inspect how he looked.

“You’re hair has always been a mess, nothing’s going to help it at this point,” she dismissed.

Virgil grumbled and shifted his wings, but didn’t try to argue further. It wasn’t like she was wrong.

“So,” his mother asked, “Did you make the right choice? In leaving?”

“I- I still don’t know,” he admitted, “I- tradition has always been so important, y’know? We’re dragons, we do things a certain way. I was supposed to come home. I don’t- I love them, all four of them. I can’t be happier getting married today. But I can’t help but feel like-” Virgil huffed and fell silent, ignoring his mom’s gaze.

“Feel like?” his mom prodded.

Virgil turned and gave her a look.

“Why do you always get me to talk about these things?”

“It’s good for you,” his mom insisted, “It’s scary, but you need to talk about these things Virgil.”

“I don’t want to,” Virgil pouted. His mom flicked his chin in response.

“I know. You were given the name of Anxiety for a reason darling.”

Virgil swallowed and something deep in his chest tightened.

“I am anxious,” he admitted.

“Yes. About?”

Virgil knew there was no getting around this.

“I just feel. Well- tradition is so important to us. So by not following it, by leaving the clan. Isn’t- isn’t that betrayal of some sort? I just feel like I’m letting the clan down, letting you down. You’ve always been my home and I’m-” the tight feeling in his chest worsened- “I’m leaving that. I left that I while ago. And isn’t- I mean if I’m breaking tradition, not living with my clan, I mean is that not betrayal? And I- I feel like I failed you. Like I failed the clan. I failed and I don’t know-” Virgil shook his head. The tight feeling in his chest warped and suddenly tears fell from his eyes. “I failed you,” Virgil whispered, “How can you still love me? I failed our traditions.”

“Virgil,” his mom said softly. Her wings came up to cocoon the two of them. “Virgil you did _not_ fail me.”

“I-” Virgil said, choking on his breath.

“Breathe honey.”

Virgil nodded and took a few deep, gasping breaths.

“Okay, okay good. Now Virgil- listen to me closely. You did _not_ fail me. You did _not_ fail your clan. You did _not_ fail tradition.”

Virgil opened his mouth to speak but his mom just gave him a look. Virgil snapped his jaw shut.

“Tradition _is_ important,” she agreed, “Our species is built on ancient traditions and practices. That’s very true. We have a way of doing things and haven’t strayed far from them. And it is also true that you haven’t followed all of them. It’s traditional to return home after your Ad Aetatem. You did not.”

Virgil hung his head.

“But,” his mother continued, “There has always, always been one thing more important than tradition. If you don’t know that, I failed you as a mother.”

“Mom- you didn’t-”

“Tradition is important, yes. It is one of our top values. The second most important value actually, but it is not the first. Do you know what the first is Virgil?”

Virgil thought he did. He had been told this before after all. But at the same time, it was scary guessing, because what if he was wrong? He didn’t want to be wrong. Not about this.

“Your _happiness_ , Virgil,” she stressed, “Your happiness comes before tradition. Always. Do you understand me?”

Virgil nodded, too afraid he’d start crying again if he said anything.

“Okay. Good,” she said, “Now Virgil, honey. Anxiety, dear, are you happy?”

Virgil gulped and raised his eyes to meet his mother’s.

“Yes.”

She nodded, then shrugged.

“Then that’s all there is to it. So tell me again, did you make the right decision staying with your loves? Not returning?”

“Yes.”

She smiled at him. He smiled back and collapsed into her arms. She hugged him tightly, wings wrapping around him to hold him as close as possible.

“I love you, Mom,” he told her, “So much.”

“I love you too. Now are you ready to get married?”

“Yeah, yeah I am.”

He was, he realized, he was ready to get married and so much more. He was ready for whatever life had for him. He may have broken tradition, but he was still a dragon. He was still Virgil and there was so much more to being a dragon than that. He had his soon-to-be spouses support and he had his mother and his clan.

Virgil had so many good things in his life. He really, really did.

Virgil was happy. Maybe that’s all he needed to be.

**Author's Note:**

>  **TW: Referenced Past Suicide Attempt** (Virgil recalls Roman telling him that he attempted suicide by jumping off a bridge), **Past Near-Death Experience** (Deceit shares that they almost died as a child, as well as the details of that experience), **Past Mistreatment of a Minor** (Deceit admits that the lack of care and ignorance of adults legally in charge of him led to them almost dying), **Throwing Up (mentioned)** (Deceit says they threw up during their near-death experience)


End file.
